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JFK: Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner, 1960

 


 

 

  • excerpt from The Making of the President 1960, by T. White:

 

Mr. Nixon flew, exhausting himself further, from Hartford to Bridgeport to Buffalo and Niagara to Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa to Wilmington and on to New York, all in the space of two days. He arrived in New York to read the morning newspaper reports of the orgiastic welcome New York had given John F. Kennedy the previous day in a demonstration that had assembled an estimated 1,250,000 people.

Nixon sat Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, in the Presidential suite on the thirty-fifth floor of the Waldorf Towers, emerging for only one major appearance, at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner.

The Alfred E. Smith Dinner, a tribute to the late New York Governor, is usually presided over each year by the senior prelate of the Catholic Church in New York, in 1960, Cardinal Spellman.

Nixon, sharing the dais with his opponent, heard the Democrat in one of his most sparkling campaign addresses...

Kennedy was in high form that evening, and since Kennedy exerts over Nixon the same charm that a snake charmer exerts over a snake, the effect was doubly harmful to Nixon's ego.

Kennedy originally, in August, had been reluctant to accept the invitation to this strictly Catholic affair; he felt it would accentuate the religious issue. Evidently he decided finally to speak with a light touch, and for two days before the engagement his aides had been circulating through the press, asking, "Do you know any jokes?"

Kennedy began his remarks thus:

I am glad to be here at this notable dinner once again and I am glad that Mr. Nixon is here also [applause]. Now that Cardinal Spellman has demonstrated the proper spirit, I assume that shortly I will be invited to a Quaker dinner honoring Herbert Hoover [laughter].
 
Cardinal Spellman is the only man so widely respected in American politics that he could bring together amicably, at the same banquet table, for the first time in this campaign, two political leaders who are increasingly apprehensive about the November election -- who have long eyed each other suspiciously and who have disagreed so strongly, both publicly and privately -- Vice-President Nixon and Governor Rockefeller [laughter].

Mr. Nixon, like the rest of us, has had his troubles in this campaign. At one point even the Wall Street Journal was criticizing his tactics. That is like the Osservatore Romano criticizing the Pope.

But I think the worst news for the Republicans this week was that Casey Stengel has been fired [laughter]. It must show that perhaps experience does not count [laughter and applause].

On this matter of experience, I had announced earlier this year that if successful I would not consider campaign contributions as a substitute for experience in appointing ambassadors. Ever since I made that statement, I have not received one single cent from my father.

One of the inspiring notes that was struck in the last debate was struck by the Vice-President in his very moving warning to the children of the nation and the candidates against the use of profanity by Presidents and ex-Presidents when they are on the stump. And I know after fourteen years in the Congress with the Vice-President that he was very sincere in his views about the use of profanity. But I am told that a prominent Republican said to him yesterday in Jacksonville, Florida, "Mr. President, that was a damn fine speech" [laughter]. And the Vice-President said, "I appreciate the compliment but not the language." And the Republican went on, "Yes sir, I liked it so much that I contributed a thousand dollars to your campaign." And Mr. Nixon replied, "The hell you say." [laughter and applause].

However, I would not want to give the impression that I am taking former President Truman's use of language lightly. I have sent him the following note: "Dear Mr. President: I have noted with interest your suggestion as to where those who vote for my opponent should go. While I understand and sympathize with your deep motivation, I think it is important that our side try to refrain from raising the religious issue." [laughter and applause].

Such speeches always disturbed Mr. Nixon, whose light touch is never publicly evident and whose private touch is sprinkled with normal profanity. Besides, Nixon liked Kennedy, which was not reciprocally true.

 

 

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